Brake drum cooling device



Feb. 1, 1938.

BRAKE DRUM COOLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l [NVENTOR ATTORNEY D. J. CAMPBELL 2,106,702

Feb. 1, 1938. J. CAMPBELL 2,106,702

BRAKE DRUM COOLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [NVENTOR D nal Jam/117 6/6114! hi. {Dam/k1,

A TTORNEY Patented Feb. 1, 1938 v 2,106,702 a I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 2.10am mm mum coonmc nEvrcs Donald J. Campbell, Sp ing me Township,

4 Ottawa county, Mich.

. mfllcation October :1, 1m, Serial No. 108,827

1 Claim. (a. 188-264) My present invention relates to improvements pertaining to brake-drum cooling, and particularly to devices and method of cooling the brake drums and wheel parts of road vehicles; and the principal objects of my improvements are, to

cool and prevent overheating of vehicle brake drums during long periods of time when the braking shoes are applied to the braking surface of the brake drum, as when it is required to apply the brakes when the vehicle is travelling down long incline grades and also when travelling down steep grades with the braking mechanism very forcibly applied.

I attain these objects together with. other objects that will be apparent from a perusal of the following description and the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation including a portion of the vehicle wheel and the resilient tire therefor.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line ill-l0 of Figure 1, in which the brake drum is not in section.

F gure 3 is a side view of one of the air deflectors. t

, Figure 4 is a sectional view of one of the air deflectors taken on line 20-20 of Figure 3 as when looking in the direction the arrow indicates.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the air deflectors, and v Figure 6 is a front view of one of the air deflectors.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the thereto: 7

l represents a broken on end of the rear axle housing of an automobile; I, the flange adjacent the end of the said housing integral therewith and to which the brake drum closing cover 3 is secured as by bolts or screws '4, 5 represents the forward air deflector and i the rear air-deflector, both flaring outwardly and secured to the closing cover I as by a flange riveted or welded to the cover 3. Arrows 1 indicate the air flow current as trained against the brake drum by the forward air deflector 5 when the vehicle is moving forward and arrows 8 indicate the air flow current as trained or drawn from around the brake drum by the rear air deflector 6. 9 represents the brake drum provided, at its inner periphery with a braking surfaceand having encircling its periphery atpliirality trout ward, radially extending spaced apart ribs I0, and supported concentric with the shaft II by several views, and referring the wheel huh I! and supporting back l3 having secured thereto flange ll of the vehicle wheel structure 15 carrying wheel rim l6 and tire l1, preferably of any well known pneumatic tire construction. Dust excluding cover It en- 5 closes end of 'axle ll, hub l2, supporting back It and castellated nut I! retaining the huh I! on the axle ll.

Referring to the air deflectors 5 and 6, each consists of a curved wall 20 having concave sur- 1 face 2i inclined outward from the closing cover 3 and having at each of their ends inwardly extending flanges 22, flange 23 over-lapping the periphery of the closing cover and placement shoulder 24 formed by pressing the curved wall 15 20 into a reverse bend. I

Brake drums as at present are of three general types of construction, one consisting of the one-piece drum pressed from sheet steel, the allcast steel or iron drum. and the brake drum pro- 20 duced by lining a preformed sheet steel shell with cast iron alloyed with other metals. The latter drum while having the higher heat transfer factor of the three types, will like the two first mentioned types, when subjected to the 25 severe application of the braking mechanism required to retard and bring the vehicle to stop from high vehicle speed, and when the braking mechanism is applied to keep the vehicle under control when descending long or steep road 0 grades, become heated to such an extent that considerable expansion of the brake drum takes place, causing the braking efllciency to be materially lowered, at times to an extent that the braking mechanism will not contact the brak- 35 ing surface of the brake drum with suflicient force so that the friction thereof will bring the vehicle under control. With my present invention, the brake drum does not heat to an extent sufllcient to cause materialexpansion of the 40 brake drum and thereby lower its braking efficiency as in operation when the vehicle is traveling forward air is deflected and forced into the space atthe outer periphery of the brake drum by the concave curved surface 2! of the forward- 45 ly moving 'air deflector 6 and is drawn or sucked from said space by suction created by the rear deflector 5 and when the vehicle is traveling in the opposite or backward direction, the direction of air flow is reversed, the deflector 5 then 50 is the forward or leading deflector and 6 becomes the deflector that sucks or draws the air out of the space surrounding the exterior of the brake drum. The two air deflectors are so formed that they can act equally forforcing air to circulate 55 Having described my present invention, the rights I wish to secure by Letters Patent are hereafter set forth, and I claim:

In a brake drum cooling device, the combination with a brake drum having an open end and. a cover for the open end, means associated with the said cover for causing air to flow against the exterior of the brake drum and means for causing air to flow away from the exterior of the brake drum when the vehicle is in motion.

' DONALD J. CAMPBELL. 

